Flame Lust
by boswifedeb
Summary: When the wedding chapel that was reserved for Chris and Murray's wedding burns to the ground, Matt is hired by one of the owners to investigate. But when the co-owner and another employee turn up missing things get really complicated. Not my characters. **Immediately follows "Brothers in Arms"**. Rated M for adult situations.
1. Chapter 1

**Flame Lust**

****This story immediately follows "Brothers in Arms"****

"**Three things cannot be long hidden:**

**the sun, the moon, and the truth."**

**- Buddha**

**CHAPTER 1**

"Hi Maisie, what's going on?" Chris answered her cell phone as she rode up in the elevator to her job in the penthouse offices of Houston Investigations. She was a few weeks away from her marriage to Murray Chase, CEO of Houston Industries. The last few months had flown by for the happy couple.

"Chris, I don't know how to say this - the wedding chapel burnt down last night." Maisie Phillips was not just a wedding planner; she was also Chris's friend.

"Oh that's really funny, girl. You almost had me there." The secretary laughed as she stepped out of the elevator and walked over to her desk, putting her purse in the bottom right drawer. She could smell coffee, so it would seem that either Matt or Roy had already made it in to the office.

"I'm not joking, haven't you seen the news this morning?"

"Look, it was a nice try but I'm not falling for it." She turned on the computer monitor and the printer.

"Chris! Listen to me – I AM NOT JOKING!" Maisie had been afraid that Chris would freak out when she told her – she hadn't figured it would take an act of Congress to convince her that it had really happened.

The elevator doors opened again and Murray Chase stepped out. "Hey sweetie, Maisie's trying to yank my chain by telling me that the wedding chapel burnt down last night." She burst into laughter which stopped when she looked at Murray's face: he looked like he was ready to go into a full-fledged panic attack. "Honey, are you okay?"

"Chris, pumpkin – she's not kidding. I saw it on the news…" Murray was holding onto his fiancée's hand. She screamed.

Matt, who had been sleeping on the couch in the office after spending most of the previous night in search of a missing school teacher, was awakened and came flying up and over the back of the couch, running to the outer office where his secretary's desk was located. He skidded to a stop when he saw her standing there with Murray.

"Chris, what in the hell are you…Chris?" Matt saw her bat her eyes and then they rolled back in her head. He and Murray caught her as she fainted and carried her into the office and placed her on the couch. "Murray, what did you do to her?"

"I didn't do anything! She just found out that the wedding chapel burnt to the ground." Murray was fanning his girlfriend in an attempt to revive her.

"Burnt to the ground? What happened? Somebody forget to blow out the candles?" After he said it, he realized how it sounded. Murray turned on him and for a fleeting moment, Matt thought the man was going to hit him. "I didn't mean that like it sounded, Murray. I'm sorry." He went behind the bar and got a glass of water and a damp towel. He began to dab at his secretary's face and she started coming to. "Hi there. How you feelin'?"

"Oh Houston, I had the worst dream ever – I thought that…" She realized she was on the couch and looked over to see Murray standing with a concerned look on his face. "Oh …my…God!" She sat bolt upright. "It wasn't a dream, was it?! What am I going to do?!"

"Well, the first thing you're gonna do is calm down." Matt patted her hand then handed her the glass of water. After she took a sip and seemed a little steadier, he moved out of the way and motioned to Murray. "I think you two need to talk." He walked over to the bar and poured two cups of coffee, putting cream and sugar into the cup for Chris. When the private investigator got back over to the couch Murray was sitting on the edge holding his fiancée's hand.

"It'll be fine, pumpkin; we'll find someplace else for the wedding." He smiled over at her.

"Murray, you don't understand. You don't just pop up a few weeks before a wedding and change the venue. Do you have any idea how hard it was to get the chapel?" She put her head in her hands.

Everyone heard the elevator chime and Matt got up to see who was there and was greatly relieved to see his wife stepping off of the elevator with their six week old daughter. It was her first day back at work after the birth of Catey Rose. He made a beeline for her. "CJ, I'm glad you're here. We've got a …well, not actually us, more like Murray and Chris have a problem."

"I know, I saw the news. How is she taking it?" CJ handed the baby carrier to Matt who started into the office.

"Well after she passed out and came to…" He was interrupted by the sound of their secretary bawling. "Well, like that I guess." Matt pointed at the distraught secretary. He followed CJ over to the couch.

Sitting down next to her friend and putting an arm around her, CJ tried to comfort her. "Chris, I promise it will be okay. Now let's see what we can do, alright? Here take a sip of coffee and we'll work on this together." She patted Chris on the back.

"Hey, I've got an idea…" Matt started to tell them what it was and his daughter Catey Rose picked that particular moment to grunt loudly and begin filling up her diaper. The smell wafted across the room, assaulting the senses of the four adults.

"Catey Rose… oh heavens." CJ began fanning the air.

"Hey, we could have it at the ranch in Texas." Matt picked up Catey Rose's diaper bag and began pulling out the items he needed to change the baby's diaper. As he started working on the task, with everyone watching, he explained. "There have been six other weddings in the house – everybody likes to use the stairs – you know, big entrance for the bride? It works great. Plus we've got plenty of room for the reception, too." He was already halfway through the diaper change while an astounded Murray and Chris watched him working. "So what do you think?" He had his daughter cleaned up and redressed in a jiffy.

"I'm impressed, Houston, you're really good at that!" Chris was actually smiling.

"What – solving problems?" Matt was grinning broadly.

"No, changing diapers. I bet a NASCAR pit crew could learn a thing from you. That was great!" Murray was smiling as well.

"So what do you think about the idea?" Matt handed his daughter to CJ and walked over behind the bar to wash his hands.

"It's great but are you sure it wouldn't be an imposition?" Chris knew that her boss was a generous man, but what he was offering was going to be a lot of work.

"Are you kidding? Madre Rosa lives for things like this. She'll be tickled pink." He dried his hands and walked back over to the couple, who exchanged a look.

"It's fine by me if you're okay with it, pumpkin." Murray gave his girlfriend a big smile.

"Oh, thank you, Houston! You're really a lifesaver!" She jumped up and gave her boss a big hug.

"You're welcome. Now, we need to make a phone call to Madre Rosa and make her day." He sat down on the end of the couch and dialed the number for the ranch in Texas. After explaining the problem and then the possible solution, and then hearing a whoop of exclamation by the housekeeper, Matt put the phone on speaker in an effort not to go deaf. "Alright, now you ladies have a chat and figure out the particulars. Murray, I need to talk to you for a minute."

The two men went out on the patio and could still hear the excited voices of the women coming from the office. "Is something wrong, Big Guy?"

"No, not at all. What about the honeymoon? Did you ever figure out what you were going to do?" Matt looked at the CEO. Murray had come to him for advice about where he should take Chris for their honeymoon and Matt wasn't so sure that he had actually taken care of the matter.

"Uh well…" Murray stammered. "I uh, well, not exactly." He looked at Matt. "I'm just afraid I'll pick the wrong place and I just haven't been able to decide."

"Okay, would you like a little help?" Matt put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Look Murray, you know I bought the resort in Tahiti – why don't you two go there?"

"Oh, I couldn't Houston; I mean we're already imposing…"

"It's not an imposition, bud. Trust me," he took Murray by the shoulders, "It's something that the two of you will NEVER forget." He had a huge smile on his face.

"Well, okay, but…"

"No buts. Now listen, here's a little piece of advice for you…" Matt looked around to make sure that no one was listening. "They've got these surf boards there, not that there's really any surf, actually their more like paddle boards, but listen. Get one of 'em and paddle out to this spot…" He went on to tell Murray about a particular place that he and CJ had visited on their honeymoon and also told him about the result of the visit, not in explicit detail, but enough so that Murray was amazed.

"Do you really think it will, you know…" The CEO blushed.

"Murray, I swear to you, that was the first time it ever happened to me and you know I've…well, just trust me." He gave the man a big smile. "You absolutely, positively, without a doubt will not regret it."

"Okay, that's it then. Thanks a lot, Houston. This means a lot to me."

"Trust me, if you do the paddle board thing it will mean a lot more." Matt wiggled his eyebrows at Murray and clapped him on the back, before heading into the office whistling.


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2**

"Houston Investigations." Matt was sitting at the desk in CJ's office. CJ and Chris were still on the phone with Madre Rosa working out the details of the wedding, so he was manning the phones.

"Uh yes, my name is Charles Reuben. I'm the owner of the Faithfully Yours Wedding Chapel and…"

"Yes, Mr. Reuben, I heard what happened. I'm very sorry. My secretary was supposed to be getting married there in a few weeks – Chris Atwater?" Catey Rose started to fuss and Matt looked at his watch, then pulled a bottle out of the diaper bag. It was still warm from where CJ had made it that morning before coming to work. He popped a bib on his daughter and pulled her out of the bouncy seat and up into his arms, giving her the bottle. She gave a loud grunt of appreciation.

"Oh yes, lovely bride. Well then I'm sure you can guess the reason for my call. I need to find out why the wedding chapel burnt to the ground. The fire marshal is calling it arson."

"Well I tell you what – let's meet and go over the facts of the case. When would be convenient for you?" Matt grabbed a pencil from the drawer and was ready to jot down the address.

"As soon as possible. I didn't ask – is this Matt Houston?"

"Yeah, I sure am. Sorry about that. We're a little disorganized around here this morning. Chris is working on the new wedding plans."

"I feel so badly about her wedding. I'll call her later and apologize." Reuben sounded pretty upset and Matt could certainly understand why – he had a lot of money on the line, not to mention he was probably going to have to battle the insurance company.

"Yes sir, could you give me the address?" Matt copied it down and thanked Mr. Reuben. He took Catey Rose to CJ and explained that he was going to be investigating the fire. "I'll call you in a little while. Love you, Babe." He gave CJ a kiss, then kissed his daughter on the forehead and headed for the elevator.

Chris watched him go. "It's hard to believe that he's the same man that got caught in the hot tub in nothing but his cowboy hat…" She saw the expression on CJ's face. "Never mind." She grinned and CJ herself cracked up.

"He's done a lot of growing up since then, Chris. He's a great dad." In a way CJ was surprised at how well Matt was doing being a dad, but in a way she wasn't. He had always wanted a family and now he was getting his wish. "Now, let's call Maisie back and surprise her with what we've accomplished so far."

Matt pulled out of the parking garage and turned left heading for the address of the wedding chapel. He hadn't seen any of the news coverage about the fire and was interested to see just how much was left of the building that was located off of Ocean Lake Boulevard. The morning traffic was somewhat congested and the drive took longer than Matt had anticipated. He was glad that he and Reuben hadn't set a time for the meeting – he probably would have been late.

Four fire trucks were still at the scene when Matt pulled up. As he got out of his truck, he spied a friend: Lt. Michael Hoyt of the LAPD. The detective rolled his eyes when he saw the private investigator walking up to where he was interviewing Charles Reuben. "I don't suppose you're here as a curious citizen, are you, Houston?"

"No, I was hired by Mr. Reuben and I'm willing to bet this is him right here, isn't it?" Matt held out his hand and shook with the owner of the chapel. "It's a pleasure to meet you, sir. Sorry it has to be under these circumstances." He looked over at the smoking debris – the building was a total loss, there was no doubt about that at all.

"I retained Mr. Houston's services this morning, Lieutenant." Reuben looked like he had been up half the night.

"What time did the fire get called in?" Matt was standing with his hands in the front pockets of his jeans, watching five firemen sift through the debris.

"The alarm company called it in at," Michael Hoyt checked his notes. "11:15 am. The first units got to the scene at 11:21."

Matt pulled out his own notebook and jotted down the information. "I sure hope there wasn't anyone in there." He looked at Mr. Reuben.

"No there wasn't thankfully." He turned his back to the charred building, then turned back to face the two men.

Houston looked over at Hoyt. "You know this is where Chris and Murray's wedding was supposed to be."

"Oh boy, I bet she is one upset lady." Hoyt shook his head.

"Well she was until I offered her the ranch in Texas." Matt smiled. "This will make the seventh wedding that's been held there."

"That should work out really well. Anyway, the fire marshal is saying arson. That's him over there in the white helmet." Hoyt indicated a short man who was walking through the building with a clipboard, filling out a report.

"Okay, I'll see what I can get from him." Matt headed over toward the man until Hoyt called him back.

"You might want to wait until he gets back to his car." Hoyt had experience with the fire marshal. "He gets mad when someone follows him around while he's working. I learned the hard way."

"Oh, okay, well then I guess I'll just wait here for him." Matt turned back around and was watching as the firemen continued to sift through the ashes. He watched as one got a strange look on his face.

"Hey, Cap? You need to see this." The captain of Station 92 walked over to where his men were working. He in turn called the fire marshal over as well as Hoyt.

"Uh oh, that's not good." Matt continued to watch until Hoyt flagged him over. When he got up even with his friend he looked down and saw what the firemen had found: the badly charred remains of a human body.

When the fire marshal made it over, he grunted and looked at Hoyt. "Looks like you need to pull out your cuffs, Lieutenant." Matt looked over at the man. He was short, maybe five and a half feet if he was lucky, with the face of an overweight, unfortunate bulldog, and he seemed to have a Napoleon complex. The expression on his face said to Matt that maybe he had been on the job for too long.

"Well, Capt. Fields, if I had some proof at this point I would gladly pull out the cuffs. But since I don't…"

"I'd say you've got enough – there's human remains in here." The short man put his hands on his hips and glared at Hoyt. "And just who the hell are you?" He looked at Matt.

Houston held out his hand. "Matt Houston, I'm a private investigator hired by…" He didn't get to finish.

"Get the hell out of the crime scene! Now! Go on!" He pointed to the parking lot where Charles Reuben was standing. "And I guess that's your client there?"

"Yes sir, he is. And since I'm investigating this fire, I'll be right here." Matt looked down at the man.

"There you go, Lieutenant, you can pull out your cuffs now." He pointed to Matt.

"Captain, Mr. Houston also happens to be a consultant to the police department. You can call the chief if you like – he'll be more than happy to vouch for him."

"All you boys stick together, huh? Humph." He knelt down and inspected the remains while Hoyt called for a team of CSI's to come to the scene. "You make sure your fancy CSI's don't muck up my scene, Lieutenant or it'll be your ass on the line."

"Hey, there's no cause to be like that. We're all on the same team here." Matt stepped forward in defense of his friend.

"Maybe you two are on the same team, but you're sure as hell not on mine." He turned and went back to his car to finish filling out his report.

Matt looked over at Hoyt who was boiling mad. The fire captain shook his head. "Talk about a short fuse, geesh!"

Kneeling down, Matt got a look at the remains. "What do you think, Hoyt? Female maybe?" Hoyt and the firemen also knelt down.

"If I was a betting man, I would say yes." The fire captain looked at Matt. "There's probably still enough left to get DNA. Usually the teeth are the best source." He looked around. "This was a hot fire, but the temp wasn't high enough to break down the bones to calcium phosphates."

"Sounds like you could be doing his job." Matt jerked his head in the direction of the fire marshal who was sitting in his car talking on the phone and shooting dirty looks at the group of men gathered over the body.

"You know what, after what I've seen and heard here today, I might just apply for it. I've already taken the classes. I sure as hell couldn't do any worse." He got up and walked back to the engine and began talking with the engineer.

Matt looked over at Reuben who was talking on his cell phone and pacing. Hoyt followed his gaze. "Looks like you're going to have your work cut out for you, Houston."

"Yep, that's what I'm afraid of, Hoyt."


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER 3**

"Mr. Reuben, there's a body in there. It appears to be a female. Do you have any idea who it might be?" Matt and Hoyt were talking with the owner of the chapel whose day had gone from bad to worse in the space of five minutes.

"There wasn't supposed to be anyone in there, Mr. Houston. My partner, Michelle Cosgrove is in Oregon dealing with a family emergency. I've been trying to get her on the phone all morning." He was sitting on the front seat of his car looking like he was a prime candidate for a heart attack.

"Okay, were you the one who closed the place up last night?" Matt looked over at Hoyt who had joined him to question Reuben.

"Yes, I was. It was about 11:00. We had the Baldwin-Lewis wedding and reception yesterday evening. It started at 4:00."

"Was there anyone else with you when you closed?" Hoyt flipped to a fresh page in his notebook.

"Yes, Theresa was with me. Theresa Olividad. She was overseeing the reception." Reuben was extremely pale and sweaty and was breathing hard.

Matt knelt down. "Uh, Mr. Reuben, are you feeling okay?" He was really getting concerned. The man's condition appeared to be deteriorating right before his eyes.

"I'm fine, just…" he stood up and his knees started to buckle.

"Whoa there partner, easy now, sit back down." Matt looked up at Hoyt who called for an ambulance. Reuben's breathing got even more ragged. "Easy now; just concentrate on your breathing, okay? We'll get to the bottom of this thing, don't worry. Look here; let's get rid of that tie, alright? There ya go, loosen your collar and just breathe. Good." Houston continued to work with the man until the ambulance got there and took him away. He had left his cell phone on the front seat of the car and Matt picked it up and looked at the last number called: Michelle Cosgrove. He wrote the number down in his notes and handed the phone and the man's keys to Michael before walking back over to talk to the fire captain.

The CSI van had just rolled into the parking lot. Cheryl Crawford stepped out and began gathering the equipment she would need to process the scene. She smiled as Matt walked over to her. "Well now that's a great way to start the day – my favorite private eye. How ya doin', Houston?"

"A lot better than my new client. He just got taken away by an ambulance – possible heart attack."

"Is he the owner?" Cheryl picked up her camera as Matt picked up one of the heavy cases of equipment and carried it for her.

"Yeah, co-owner actually. He said his partner is in Oregon on family business." Matt set the case down at the edge of the building. Without pointing he asked, "Are you familiar with this fire marshal?"

Cheryl glanced over his shoulder and gave a curt nod. "Yeah a real…uh, jerk would probably be the nicest thing I could say about him."

"Yeah, I would have to agree there. He's saying arson and there's a body in there – looks like a female."

"Before I go look at this mess, let me see a picture of that baby girl of yours." She smiled as the new father dug his phone out and pulled up the latest pictures. "You're not proud at all, are you Dad?"

"Nooooo, not a bit. Of course after she almost cleared the office this morning with a poopy diaper, I guess I have to be just a little bit proud." He grinned as he pulled up a picture of Catey Rose wearing a little pink tutu and angel wings.

"Ohhhh, she's so adorable I could just eat her up!" She patted Matt on the arm. "You did good, Houston. How many more are you two planning on?"

"Just enough for a baseball team. Might go into the business."


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER 4**

Matt hung around the wedding chapel until Cheryl was finished and he had gotten everything he could out of her, which was what he had already figured out for himself. He stopped by the hospital to check on Charles Reuben and was told that he had indeed suffered a heart attack and was in the Coronary Care Unit. Matt wouldn't be allowed to see him until he was transferred to a private room.

On the way back out to the parking lot he ran into his favorite nurse, Sheila, who had taken care of him after he had been injured in a bomb blast the summer before. "Houston, what are you doing here?" She stopped and had both hands on her hips, her mocha-colored complexion all smiles.

"Well believe it or not I'm checking up on somebody else." He smiled and gave her a big hug. "And I've got something to show you, too." He pulled out his phone and pulled up all of the pictures he had of Catey Rose starting from the day she was born in the barn on the Houston ranch right up to the pink tutu photo.

"Oh my goodness, she's beautiful! Which doctor delivered her?"

Matt laughed and shook his head. "Dr. Dad. She was born in the barn during a tornado."

"Oh Lord, that is definitely your child." Sheila burst into laughter and gave the man another hug. "You tell CJ I said hello and I want to come see that baby. Right now I've got to get in here. I started in the Coronary Care Unit last week and my new boss is something else."

"Really? Well look, can you do me a favor?" Matt told her about Reuben. "I'm not asking for anything really personal, just you know, is he going to make it and such, okay?"

"I think I can swing that. I'll call you later on, okay hon?" They said their goodbyes and Matt headed on back to the office to do some research on his new client, his business, and his partner who so far was unreachable.

When he reached the office, it occurred to Matt that he should have gotten Theresa Olividad's phone number from Reuben's phone so he called Hoyt as he headed up in the elevator. "Hey bud, can I ask a favor?"

"Oh Lord, what is it?" Hoyt had just taken a swallow from the bottle of antacid that resided in the top right hand drawer of his desk. The day had not started out well and the fire marshal had made sure that it didn't improve.

"I just need a phone number out of Reuben's phone. Theresa Olividad?" He waited while Hoyt opened the phone and retrieved the number. "Alright thanks. I figured I better try to get hold of her and make sure…well, you know, that she wasn't the one in the chapel. Plus maybe she could tell me a little something about the owners."

"Okay, let me know what you get and I'll keep you in the loop from this end. Deal?" With Matt working on the case as well, it took a little pressure off of Michael.

"You know it. 'Bye." Matt hung up and stepped off of the elevator to find his secretary hard at work as if nothing had ever happened. "So how is the beautiful bride-to-be doing now?" He stopped and gave her a big smile.

"Just fine, thank you very much." She was all smiles. "Thanks again, Houston. I really do appreciate it. And Madre Rosa is happy, too – she said she had been getting bored around there."

"Well we can't have that, can we? She might get into trouble if she gets bored." He grinned and headed on into CJ's office. "Hey babe, whatcha doin'?" He walked up behind her chair and leaned over, giving her a hug and nuzzle on the neck.

"I've been helping Chris up until just a few minutes ago. How is our case looking?" She stood up and gave Matt a kiss – one that completely took his mind off of the case. When the pair came up for air, they were both breathless. Matt stood there looking at her and wishing that at that very moment they were home. CJ smiled at him. "The case, Matt?"

"Oh. Uh, yeah, I uh, well." He stopped and looked at her with a goofy expression on his face. "Oh yeah, uh Reuben is in the Coronary Care Unit. Had a heart attack. But guess who I ran into who is now working in the Coronary Care Unit?"

"Not Sheila?" CJ was surprised.

"Yup, she promised she would call me and give an update on his condition." Matt was still about halfway distracted by the kiss that CJ had given him and suddenly remembered that he had a surprise for her. "Oh, I almost forgot. Our day got off to such a weird start, but I've got a surprise for you. Or rather, your daughter and I have a surprise." He took her by the hand, checking to see Catey Rose was in her carrier sleeping soundly, and led his wife down stairs. "Okay, now close your eyes. Don't peek." He picked her up, walked to the middle of the room and put her back on her feet. "Open your eyes."

When she did, CJ was amazed. Matt had turned part of the gym into a nursery for Catey Rose. "Oh Matt, it's wonderful! I was just thinking earlier that I should have – oh, thank you!" She gave him another kiss, this one even more involved than the one that they had shared upstairs a couple of minutes before. Matt pulled away, breathless.

"Uh, CJ, I think we better cool it." He turned away from her and walked over toward the crib that he had put in for his daughter. CJ followed and wrapped her arms around him. "Babe, that's really not a good idea right now." Matt's voice had taken on that familiar husky tone and CJ then knew why he had walked away from her. She started giggling. "It isn't funny, CJ." He still had that tone.

"I'm sorry, hon. Look, how about tonight we have a little date, what do you say?" She leaned over and kissed his earlobe.

"Babe, that's not helping me any right now, you know that." Matt was staring up at the ceiling.

"So how about it, Cowboy?" She blew into his ear, something else that really got to him.

"If you keep on it won't wait until tonight." He continued to stare at the ceiling. "But yeah, tonight would be great." Matt laughed. "Why do I feel like a high school kid all over again – just like before the wedding?"

"Because it's been a little over six weeks without - you know."

"Oh believe me, I know, CJ. Really." He turned to look at his wife, pulling her into his arms and planting a kiss on her that put the two previous kisses to shame. Then they both heard Catey Rose begin to cry.

"I'll get her – I think you need to relax a little bit." She glanced down and then back up at Matt.

"It's all your fault you know, CJ." He grinned. "Love you, Babe."

"Love you, too." She blew a kiss at him and took off up the stairs to tend to their daughter.

Matt took a few minutes in the gym to calm down before heading upstairs and pulling up BABY the computer to begin researching the owners of the Faithfully Yours Wedding Chapel but first he tried to call Theresa Olividad, but didn't receive an answer. He then tried calling Michelle Cosgrove and her cell phone went straight to voice mail.

After considering his options, Matt got up to get a cup of coffee, then sat back down in front of the computer and began digging up what he could on Reuben, Cosgrove, and Olividad. Reuben and Cosgrove had been partners in the business for six years and had been doing pretty well until the economy tanked. It had hit them pretty hard and Reuben was up to his ears in bank loans, but had been maintaining and was starting to make progress on repayment. Cosgrove had just been through a nasty divorce in which her husband had been awarded a pretty hefty sum of alimony. Olividad had worked at the chapel for the last three years, had been married to her husband David for seven years and was the mother of a six year old and a one year old.

Matt picked up the phone and called Hoyt. "Hey, how's it going on that end?"

"Nowhere fast. I've been dealing with other cases. Did you get anything?" Hoyt had just opened the top on the antacid bottle when the phone rang and now took a long swig out of it.

"Did you remember your yogurt today?" Matt knew exactly what Hoyt was doing.

"Look, how in the hell do you know what I'm doing? I've looked all over this damn office for one of your surveillance critters and haven't found one. Please, just tell me how you know?" The detective sounded like he was at the end of his rope. "And yes, I had my yogurt earlier." Matt had finally talked him into trying yogurt to calm his ulcers about a year ago, but there were some days when it just didn't work.

"Stay focused, Hoyt." Matt then explained to him what he had found out about Reuben, Cosgrove, and Olividad and told him about not being able to contact either woman on her cell phone or at home. "Do you think you could do a GPS check on them? I've got a bad feeling that one or the other of them is the person that was in the chapel."

"Okay, I'll get to it. Talk to you later." He hung up then realized that Matt had never told him how he knew about the antacids. After spending a minute to look around the office once more for one of Houston's little surveillance cameras, Hoyt went about doing the paperwork to get a GPS track placed on the phones of the two women.


	5. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER 5**

After a lunch of chimichangas from Ricardo's, Matt got back to thinking about the case he had now. He looked at his watch and wondered if Hoyt had gotten the GPS checks done and just as he was about to pick up his phone and call, it rang.

"Yeah, Michael, what have you got?" He walked out onto the patio.

"I think Theresa Olividad's body was the one in the chapel." He sat down behind his desk. "After I put in the request for the GPS, I happened to think that she should have been there this morning. If you hear that your place of employment has burnt down, you're probably going to show up – or at least call your boss. The last place her phone was active was at the chapel."

"Oh goody. What about the husband?"

"He tried to call in a missing person report at 1:00 am, but was told that he would have to wait for twenty four hours."

"Great. They've got two little kids." Matt felt really bad for Olividad's family. "Well, that means that you can get a DNA sample."

"Cheryl is on her way to their house right now to collect it. Olividad's husband was out riding around earlier trying to see if he could find her anywhere. That's why there wasn't any answer at the house."

"Man that stinks. What about Cosgrove?"

"Her phone is off. The last place it was active was at LAX. I'm trying to find out where she has relatives in Oregon and see if the police will do a welfare check on her."

"Hold on, I found that earlier." Matt went back over to BABY and pulled up the information on Michelle Cosgrove. "Here ya go, Warrenton. On the northwest side of the state. I don't have any phone numbers on her family there – but I do have an address."

"Alright, I'll see what I can get. Talk to you later." Hoyt hung up the phone and looked up the phone number for the Warrenton Police Department. After talking to the chief for a few minutes, he didn't have a good feeling about Cosgrove. Thirty minutes later the chief called back.

"Hi there, Lieutenant Hoyt? This is Bob Summers, up in Warrenton. We went to the Cosgrove place and they say that she was there two days ago but went back to LA."

"Okay, uh chief, do you think they were telling the truth? I'm not trying to be a jerk, but there is a dead body involved and we need be sure it isn't her."

"Oh no, you're not a jerk. But these folks are pretty good, never been in any trouble. Heck, they haven't even gotten a speeding ticket, and just between you, me, and the fence post, that's not easy to do around here." He laughed. "No, I think they're telling the truth."

"Alright then, thanks for your help. Let me know if there's ever anything I can do for you." Hoyt got off of the phone and called Matt and told him about his conversation with Summers.

Matt sighed. After spending all day yesterday and until 4:00am that morning hunting for the missing school teacher (who had eloped to Vegas with her boyfriend) he wasn't enjoying this case at all. "That sure wasn't what I was hoping to hear." He thought on for a minute.

"I'm putting out an APB for her and her car. Other than that, I don't know what else I can do – but interview the ex-husband."

"Yeah, there is the ex-husband angle, but you know what else occurs to me?" He yawned. "Warrenton isn't really very far from Canada, eh?"

"Oh, tell me you didn't – yep you did." Hoyt couldn't help but laugh. "Alright, I'll put up an inquiry to the Border Patrol. How about I come by and pick you up and we go talk to the ex-husband together?"

"Works for me. See you in a bit." He hung up and rubbed his eyes. After closing up the computer he moved down to the other end of the couch and stretched out, drifting off in just a couple of minutes. CJ came out of her office and found him after hearing the familiar buzzing sound that her husband made while sleeping. She had no idea what time he had made it back to the office so she went back to her office and grabbed a quilt that she kept there and covered him up.

When Hoyt arrived about forty five minutes later, he walked into CJ's office expecting to see Catey Rose. "Where's my niece?" He smiled at the new mother. CJ got up and walked around the desk. "Down here." She led him to the new nursery where Catey Rose was sleeping peacefully in her crib.

"Hey this is great," he whispered. "You did a great job on it."

"I would love to take the credit but I can't – Matt did it all by himself." She was smiling proudly.

"Well in that case it's even more impressive." They started back up the stairs. "Where is he anyway? I'm supposed to be picking him up." He followed CJ to the couch where she nodded in the direction of her hubby.

"Hmm, I'm starting to see a strong resemblance in the two babies." Hoyt grinned. "Did he have a late night?"

"He didn't make it home. There was a missing school teacher. Turned out she eloped with her boyfriend to Vegas."

"Well, that's a fairly happy ending - unlike what we're probably dealing with now." He explained how Theresa Olividad was missing and how he and Matt thought maybe it was her body in the burnt out wedding chapel. "Guess I better wake up Sleeping Beauty here and get a move on."

"I'll do it." CJ knelt down by the back of the couch and began tickling Matt's moustache – something that usually woke him up quickly – and this time was no exception. He came up swatting.

"CJ! Don't do that!" He started scratching where she had disturbed his moustache. "Dang that itches!" Looking up, he saw Hoyt. "Hey, you ready to go?"

"Yep, been ready. Oh by the way, you did good on the nursery." He gave Matt a big grin.

"Thanks." The private investigator stood up and stretched then leaned over the couch and gave his wife a kiss. "See you later, Babe. Love you."

"Love you, too. You boys stay out of trouble." She went back to her office as Matt and Hoyt headed for the elevator. As they stepped inside and rode down, Matt yawned and stretched.

"Late night?" Hoyt looked over at his friend.

"More like no night to speak of – I got back here about 4:00am." He rubbed his eyes.

Hoyt started to snicker. Matt cut his eyes over at the policeman. "Something tickle your funny bone?"

"Yeah, I was just thinking about how it used to be – Matt Houston, man about town, out till all hours, lover boy to all those women – and now look at you."

"It's called growing up, Hoyt. Maybe you should try it sometime."

"Hey, I've been a grown up longer than you, cowboy."

"Oh yeah, I forgot; you've gone past grown up to just plain old." The doors on the elevator opened and Matt stepped on out leaving Hoyt behind to stammer. The private investigator turned to the cop. "ZING! GOTCHA!"

"I'll make you think gotcha, get your butt in the car."

Matt was the one snickering then. As they rode to the office of Victor Cosgrove, Matt told Hoyt what he had learned about the man. "This guy is supposed to be a talent scout, looking for actors. From what I read of the divorce papers, he relies heavily on the casting couch."

"Humph, one of those, huh?" Hoyt wasn't impressed.

They found the office in a run-down building just east of the train yard. Cosgrove's office was on the seventh floor, and as Matt and Michael got to the elevator they were greeted by an out of order sign that looked like it had been in use as long as the building. They exchanged a glance and headed up the stairs.

The suite of "Cosgrove Entertainment" was at the far end of the hallway. When they walked through the door they saw a variety of acts: a juggler with a monkey, a magician who couldn't keep his dove in his pocket or his rabbit in a cage, and what Matt thought might be a fire eating stripper; he wasn't sure and wasn't sure that he wanted to be sure.

Hoyt and Matt walked up to the receptionist's window and waited while she finished her phone call and popped her gum. Hoyt showed his badge. "We're here to talk to Mr. Cosgrove."

As soon as the badge came out the magician disappeared from the office leaving behind the rabbit. Matt also heard the sound of running footsteps behind the door of Cosgrove's office and turned and took off toward the hall, catching the talent scout in the act of disappearing, much like the magician, through the private door of his office. He grabbed the man by the neck of his shirt and stopped him in his tracks. "Going somewhere? That's just rude. And to think we came all the way down here to see you. I think you should stick around for a while." He hauled Cosgrove back into his office and put him on the couch. "There ya go, Hoyt."

"Thanks so much. So Mr. Cosgrove: why were you in such a hurry to leave?"

"I uh, well; I thought maybe my wife had sent you." He nervously licked his lips and looked back and forth between Houston and Hoyt.

"Don't you mean ex-wife?" Matt stood with his arms crossed.

"Yeah, ex that's it." Cosgrove looked like a rat trying to find a way out of a trap.

"Why would she be sending someone here?" Hoyt had his hands on his hips with his suit jacket pushed back so that the pistol on his hip was visible.

"Because she's mad about having to pay me alimony, that's why. She'd love nothing better than for me to be dead."

"You know, I think that's probably the first honest thing to come out of his mouth in years?" Matt looked over at Hoyt.

"That's probably true." Hoyt leaned forward. "Now give us a little more truth: where is your wife, oh excuse me – ex-wife?"

"How the hell should I know? We're divorced." The weaselly little man was cowering.

"When was the last time you saw her?" Matt leaned forward and had his right hand resting on the back of the couch – within inches of the man's neck.

"Four days ago. She came by to ask me to modify the divorce decree. Said she was having money problems and couldn't pay me." Cosgrove nervously eyed Matt's hand.

"Where did she go when she left here?" Hoyt leaned forward with his left hand on the back of the couch which nearly made Cosgrove jump out of his skin.

"She said she was going to Oregon to see her folks. Look fellas, that's all I know. Please!" He was very near tears.

"I don't know, Hoyt, what do you think?" Matt gave the talent scout a scowl.

"I think Mr. Cosgrove better not try to run from us if we come back to see him – or he's going to end up in jail." Hoyt turned and walked out the door followed by Matt. Once they were out in the hall and headed for the stairway Matt started laughing. "What's so funny?" Hoyt pushed the door to the stairs open and started down.

"You didn't see?" Matt was near to rolling.

"See what?"

"He peed himself." Houston was beet red he was laughing so hard.

"Oh, nope didn't see that." Hoyt started laughing and by the time they reached the parking lot both men were complaining of sore ribs.

As Matt got into Hoyt's car his cell phone rang. "Hey Sheila, how's it going?"

"Pretty good. Sorry I couldn't call you before now; it's been busy in here today. Reuben is doing better, and should be in a private room in a couple of days."

"Well I owe you one, thanks a lot."

"No problem, sugar. You tell CJ I said hello – and kiss that baby for me. I can't wait to meet her."

"Alright. You have a good night. 'Bye." Matt hung up and looked over at Hoyt. "Reuben looks like he's going to be okay. Should get moved into a private room in a couple of days, so says Miss Sheila."

"That's some good news." Hoyt dropped Matt off in the parking garage of the Houston Industries building and went back to his own office.


	6. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER 6**

When Matt got back to the office, CJ had already left for home. Since there wasn't much else he could do for the time being, he decided to head that way, too. Chris was leaving with Murray for a dinner date and then they would spend the evening trying to contact wedding guests to inform them of the changes.

After arriving at the ranch, Matt walked in through the kitchen door and was greeted by the smell of Italian food. CJ was stirring something in a pot and Catey Rose was happily sitting in her bouncy seat. "I see my ladies made it home safe and sound." He walked up behind CJ, wrapping his arms around her. "And something sure does smell good."

"I'm glad you approve – we're having spaghetti tonight." She turned and brought her arms up around his neck and gave him another one of those kisses that went on for several minutes after which she turned back to the oven and pulled out a pan of bread sticks. "Dinner in five minutes, cowboy." Matt just stood there grinning. She looked at him and shook her head. "Nope, you can't have dessert first."

After dinner, Matt picked up Catey Rose and took her down to the barn with him to check on the horses. It was her first meeting with Cricket, Matt's favorite horse. When Cricket walked up to the fence to see Matt, she gave the baby a good sniff. "Okay, Cricket. This is Catey Rose." The red sorrel nuzzled at the baby girl who cooed back at her. "Well she isn't afraid of you, that's for sure."

Bo and Lamar walked up to the fence just then. "Want me to hold the young 'un for you, Houston?" Bo held his hands out.

"Yeah, for just a minute if you don't mind." He handed his daughter over to the cowboy and climbed up on the fence as CJ walked up. Cricket moved over so that Matt could get on her back just like always, but that night there was a new rider. Matt reached down for his daughter.

"Uh hon, I don't know if that's a good idea." CJ knew Cricket was a good horse, but her mothering instincts didn't think it was the right thing to do.

"She'll be fine, CJ." Matt took the baby from Bo as Cricket turned her head to look at the new addition on her back. "Okay, Cricket, easy does it, baby girl." The horse began walking around the pasture very slowly.

"I swear I think that horse understands every word he says." Lamar watched in amazement as Cricket very slowly and carefully made her way around the pasture. When they got back up to the fence, Lamar took the baby while Matt slid down from the horse. He scratched the horse's jaw and patted on her, telling her what a good job she had done. "Hand her here, Lamar." Matt took the baby back and held her so that Cricket could nuzzle her again. He then laid his head on the horses and whispered something to her and she slowly backed up and walked away. Handing Catey Rose back to his wife, he climbed the fence and whistled for the horse to come back. He slipped onto her back and they took their usual ride around the pasture, with Matt paying extra attention to her and talking to her before coming back up to the fence and swatting her on the rump. She ran across the pasture kicking up her heels just as she normally did.

"What in the world did you say to that horse, Matt?" CJ was amazed.

"I told her that she has a little sister now and I expect her to help us take care of her." He grinned at the amazed looks on the faces of the two ranch hands and his wife as he took the baby and started walking around the barn with her.

Later on that night as they put Catey Rose to bed and stood in the doorway watching her, Matt wrapped his arms around CJ and pulled her close, kissing her. He brushed her hair back and lightly kissed her again, then very seriously took both her hands in his. "I've joked around about it CJ, but how many kids do you want to have?" They walked down the hall to their bedroom and sat down on the edge of the bed.

"You said you wanted enough for a baseball team." She smiled at Matt.

"Yes, I did. But what I want and what we can actually accomplish may be two very different things." He took her hand in his and kissed it. "I know being pregnant and giving birth are not the easiest things in the world to do, Babe. But I really do want more than one."

"I do, too, Matt. I'd like to wait until Catey is at least a year old before we try again." She kissed him. "I'm not going to make any promises, mind you, but I think we can at least tie Vince and Isabella." CJ gave him a big smile. "How does that sound?"

Matt had his head down looking at their hands, but when she told him that, he looked up smiling, something that never failed to make her heart skip a beat. "Good. But you know, I think maybe we need a little practice."


	7. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER 7**

Matt stepped off of the elevator the next morning and started on in to the office to make a pot of coffee, only to find that it had already been done by his Uncle Roy who was sitting at the bar looking extremely happy. "Well good morning. You're here bright and early." Matt walked on in, poured himself a cup, and sat down at the bar with his uncle. "And looking particularly happy. Did you find a new girlfriend?" Roy never seemed to be hurting for female companionship. He had even dated Vince Novelli's mother, Rosa.

"You know that bid I had in for the security systems for the jewelry chain?" He smiled even bigger. "Got it." He and Matt toasted each other.

"Well congratulations!" Matt was impressed. He knew that Roy had spent a lot of extra time working on the deal.

"Know how much each installation is going to cost them?" He was still smiling.

"I would be afraid to guess. How much?"

"$150,000." Roy was grinning like the mouse that got the cheese out of the trap.

"You're pretty slick, old man." Matt stuck out his hand and they shook. "So how many stores are we talking about?"

"Right now, twenty." The former CIA agent was still smiling.

"Uncle Roy, you do realize that's $3,000,000 don't you?" Matt was astounded.

"Yup."

"Ya done good, Uncle Roy. So when do all of these installations take place?"

"Well that's why I'm here early. I needed to talk to the boss," Roy indicated Matt, "about hiring some temporary help to do it. I've got a couple of folks in mind."

"Oh, who is that?" Matt had swiveled back around to face the bar.

"First I want to run something by you. How much do you think the installer should get? Not talking about me, because I'm on salary."

"Well, I'm going to assume that you trust these people without a doubt and can vouch for their honesty. Am I right?"

"Yep."

"And I'm going to assume that we're paying for accommodations and such for the installers."

"Yep."

"Do you plan on having more than one installer per job? It might work best if it was a two-person team."

"That was my thinking as well."

"Okay, so are we talking flat rate for all of the stores or on a store by store basis?"

"I'm thinking store by store. I know that's what I would prefer."

"And how long should each installation take?"

"About four twelve-hour days."

"$10,000 sounds fair to me. What did you have in mind?"

"That's pretty much what I thought."

"Okay, so who are we talking about?"

"Your cousin Will and Vince Novelli."

Matt considered that for a minute. "Have you talked to Vince?"

"No, I haven't. But I've got a feeling he'll say yes. The only down side for him would be staying away from home for a while and they would be short-handed at the restaurant, but a big paycheck like that would sure help them out."

"You're not kidding there. Have you talked to Will?"

"No, but I believe he would hop on it."

"How about you call Will and we'll call Vince a little later on – give him time to wake up good?" Matt didn't have any doubts about either man's honesty. But he wasn't sure Vince would want to be gone from home for that long – or that his wife Isabella would be happy about it.

"Alright." Roy pulled out his cell phone and dialed his son's number. "Hey Will. I've got a little proposition for you." He winked at Matt and then went on to explain to his son what the job was and what it would entail. "Uh huh. Okay, I'll call you back later. 'Bye." He hung up. "He's all for it."

"Good." Matt looked at his watch. It was almost 8:00am. "Let's give Vince another couple of hours."

"Chris told me yesterday about the wedding chapel and your offer of the ranch. That's a nice thing you're doing, Mattlock." Roy poured another cup of coffee.

"Well, I'm just a wonderful person." Matt smirked. "Boy she was sure upset yesterday morning. Passed out in fact." He looked over at his uncle. "And Madre Rosa is happy because now she gets something else to mother-hen." Both men cracked up.

"Speaking of mother hen, how are CJ and my great niece?" He began smiling as Matt pulled out his phone to pull up the latest picture.

"Here ya go, see for yourself." He handed the phone over and Roy's smile got even bigger.

"She's beautiful, Matt." He handed it back.

"We had a little talk last night. CJ and me, not Catey." Matt grinned again. "We're thinking at least four kids."

"Good. I like the "at least" part." Roy chuckled. "You know Bill sure would have been proud, boy."

"Yeah." Looking down into his coffee cup, Matt's expression became more serious. "You know, that's my biggest regret in life. That I didn't get with CJ sooner."

"Well you finally wised up, that's the main thing." Roy patted him on the back. They both heard the elevator and then heard Chris and CJ talking as they stepped out. Both men walked over to the door. "And there's my girl now." Uncle Roy was beaming as CJ handed over Catey Rose to him. He immediately started talking to her and walked over to the couch and sat down.

"And to think I was vain enough to think he meant me." CJ rolled her eyes.

"Well I'm glad to see you." Matt gave her a kiss and put his arm around her.

Chris answered the phone. "Houston, Michael is on line one."

Matt sighed and gave CJ one more small kiss before walking back over to the bar and picking up the phone. "Hey, what's going on?"

"I thought you might want to meet me at the wedding chapel. Captain Holt of Station 92 just called me. He's been doing a little looking around down there on his day off and says he's got something." Hoyt was headed down to the parking garage.

"Okay, I'll be right there." Matt found CJ in her office and told her what was going on. "See you later. Love you." He gave her another kiss.

"Be careful, sweetie. Love you." She pulled him back for one more kiss.

Matt arrived at the chapel about twenty minutes later. Hoyt was standing at the edge of the burnt out building talking to the fire captain. "How ya doin'?" Matt shook hands with the fireman.

"Well I was doing good but I got over it." Rich Holt grinned at Matt. "I've been seriously thinking about what you said the other day, about the job of fire marshal? So I decided to come down here and take a look around. And guess what I found?" He led the two detectives over to the other side of the building. "I figure that the person who set this blaze used this side of the building for their entrance and exit. Not a door, but a window." He indicated what was left of a very low window sill.

Matt looked at what the man was talking about. The edge of the building was about a foot from a six foot fence. "Not much room back here and lots of cover. Okay, I can see where that would be an advantage."

"And a disadvantage – it looks like our firebug got caught on the fence." He showed Matt a piece of material that was stuck on a splinter of wood protruding from the fence.

"Did you call out the CSI's?" Matt looked over at Hoyt who nodded.

"But wait – there's more." Capt. Holt was really enjoying the tour. "Look at this." He stepped back around the end of the building so that they could enter the burnt out shell. "I did some nosing around on the internet last night and found a picture of what this place looked like. All of the doors were on the three other sides of the building – obviously they wouldn't have put one where there was only a foot of space to work with over there." He indicated where they had just come from. "Now back here on the east side, there was a delivery door – you know, like a garage door. The door on the front was snazzy – so the brides could have the fancy pictures – stained glass, you know how women love that stuff." Matt and Hoyt nodded their agreement. "And the door over there on the west side was just your average door." He turned and pointed to the area where the body had been found the day before, which had been near the delivery door. "Now here's where I had a little help. My wife is a florist and makes deliveries here all the time. This area right here was where the coolers were – you know, for the flowers. And over here," he pointed to an area right next to the burnt coolers, "was a work table. My wife says that they kept a bunch of potted plants around the place and there is some spray that they use to make the leaves all shiny. That stuff has ethyl alcohol, white mineral oil, petroleum distillate, and liquefied petroleum gas in it."

"They put that stuff on plants? And it doesn't kill them?" Matt and Hoyt exchanged a look.

"Evidently not, or so says my wife. But it sure as hell is flammable." He led them around the edge of the room. "Now you see this line here? That's where accelerant was put – and I'll bet my bottom dollar it was the plant spray – because I'm sure they didn't leave a can of the stuff here." He walked through the burnt out shell of a building and pointed to what was left of two of the spray cans that according to the badly burnt print on the label, had held the plant spray.

Matt looked around them. "And if I'm not mistaken, this is the actual chapel, right?"

"Yup, it was." Capt. Holt stood and looked around. "Now here's something else: the fire marshal is saying "unknown accelerant" in his report. If I can walk in here and find this stuff, and he supposedly has been doing this for years, why in the hell didn't he find it?"

Hoyt looked stunned. "That's a very good question, Captain."

Matt surveyed the carnage. "I believe our fire marshal is a firebug, boys." Cheryl Crawford pulled into the parking lot and got out of her van. "We need to keep this quiet, Hoyt."

Michael nodded and the three men walked out into the parking lot and started explaining to the CSI what had been found.

"I'll be dipped…that little…wow!" She was stunned. "Okay, Michael, how do you want to work this?"

"Top secret, that's how. Nobody else learns about this until we're one hundred percent certain and have undeniable proof."

"Okay, I can sure work on getting that. I'll test the areas that Capt. Holt has pointed out and get these spray cans as well. Man this ticks me off! He hovered over me when I was working in here yesterday – but then he always does. And he sure didn't lead me to this stuff." Cheryl was hot.

"Alright Hoyt, I'm going to go back to the office and see what I can dig up on Fields. Talk to you in a while." He shook hands with Holt again. "Captain, I think you would make a great replacement for fire marshal. You sure as hell have my vote." Matt walked on back over to his truck and headed back to the office.


	8. Chapter 8

**CHAPTER 8**

When Matt stepped off of the elevator he looked at his watch: 9:42am. "Hey Chris, is Uncle Roy still here?"

"Sure is." She was still all smiles.

"How did contacting the guests go last night?"

"Great! We got almost everyone and we're going to try the rest tonight." Chris was beaming.

"Sounds like you've got it under control." Matt grinned and headed on into the office. Roy was sitting at the poker table looking over the plans of for the jewelry store job. "Have you tried Vince yet?"

"No, I thought I would wait for you to get back." Roy closed up the folder and looked at his nephew.

"Well, let's see what he says." Matt stepped over the back of the couch and had a seat, pulling up BABY, then dialed Vince's cell phone. He picked up on the second ring.

"Hey Ace, what's going on?" He had just pulled back into the driveway of the house after dropping the boys off at school.

"Well, Uncle Roy has been working on a deal for a security system for a chain of jewelry stores. And he needs somebody trustworthy to help with the installations. You were on the top of the list. Would you be interested?"

"Wow! Uh, I guess so. When and where?" He got out of the van and walked up the sidewalk.

"There are twenty stores at the moment, spread across the country. It would mean you would be gone from home for a good while, and I wanted to be sure that wouldn't cause any problems at home or at the restaurant." Matt knew that with Vince, family came before anything else.

"That's a lot. Hang on; let me put it on speaker so Isabella and Mama can hear about it." He pushed the button and Matt explained the deal.

"Now we're talking about a payday of $10,000 per store. Plus we'll be taking care of hotels, meals, the whole nine yards. The main thing is that we need somebody that we can trust."

"Holy cow!" The former cop was obviously impressed.

"But I don't want to take you away from home for too long or cause a problem at the restaurant."

The Novelli's talked it over and gave Vince the go-ahead. "Alright Ace you heard 'em. They're ready to get rid of me."

"I guess we should tell you who you're going to be working with." Matt winked at Roy.

"Uh oh, not Attila the Hun I hope."

"Nope, worse than that: my cousin Will." Matt burst into laughter.

"Whew! That's a relief. You scared me for a minute there. No, Will's a good guy. I think we should have a good time together. Wow! This is pretty cool stuff, Houston. I appreciate it."

"You need to thank Uncle Roy. He worked up the whole deal and suggested you. I'm just making the call so I can bug you for a little bit."

"Tell him I said thanks."

"Tell him yourself; he's sitting right here and we're on speaker."

"Roy, I really appreciate it. Thanks for keeping me in mind."

"No problem, Vince. I think we'll have a good time." Roy was smiling.

"You know, Vince I believe he might have an ulterior motive." Matt winked at his uncle again. "If he gets you away from Hawaii he can see more of Mama."

"At $10,000 a pop, he can take her to Vegas for all I care." Vince started laughing.

"Okay, he's going to pick up over at the bar and work out the schedule with you. Give the boys a swift kick for me and give those beautiful ladies a kiss, huh? Talk to you later, bud." Matt hung up when Roy had picked up the extension at the bar, and then started in looking for information on Eugene Fields, the fire marshal.

CJ came out of her office carrying Catey Rose and sat down next to Matt. "What are we working on?"

Matt brought her up to date on the case, including his meeting with Hoyt, Holt, and Cheryl that morning.

"Wow! This guy sounds like a real loser. What have you found so far?"

"Eugene Andrew Fields, age 40, divorced, no kids. Worked as a firefighter for the San Diego Fire Department for fifteen years, rose to the rank of captain. Hmmm, looks like he left rather unceremoniously. Seems there were quite a few complaints filed against him by citizens and other fire fighters. That's completely understandable; the man's got the personality of a door knob." CJ cracked up and Catey Rose grunted. Matt looked down at his daughter warily. "I hope that was a comment on Fields and not a diaper about to be loaded, young lady." He raised an eyebrow at her and she grunted again. "I don't smell anything, so I'm going to take it that she's talking about Fields." He looked back at the screen. "It says he began working as a fire marshal here in LA five years ago. There doesn't really seem to be too much else about him." Closing up the computer, he looked over at CJ. "I think I'm going to go see Hoyt. Maybe he can pull the files on some of the other investigations that this guy has done." Matt leaned over and kissed Catey on the nose. "Love you, little stinker." He gave CJ a kiss, one considerably longer than the one he gave his daughter. Stroking her cheek he said, "Last night was great."

"Yes, it was. I think we should try it again tonight." CJ smiled and kissed her husband. Catey Rose decided it would be a good time to fill up her diaper and her parents both started laughing.

"Kid, you really know how to kill the mood." Matt looked at his wife.

"I'll get her. You go see Michael." CJ stood up and headed downstairs to the nursery to change her. "Be careful, hon. Love you."

"Love you, too, babe. You girls stay out of trouble." He walked down the steps to the elevator and pointed at Chris. "That goes for you, too."

"Oh, I ALWAYS stay out of trouble." The secretary rolled her eyes.

"Uh huh. I know better than that." Matt grinned as he stepped onto the elevator.

As he rode down to the parking garage, he realized that he hadn't tried to check on Fields finances. He knew that CJ was probably still in the middle of a diaper change, so he decided to call her when he reached the police department.

Matt walked into the lobby of the precinct and stopped to talk to Bob Peterson for a minute, who asked to see pictures of his daughter. The private investigator rode up to the fourth floor where he was once again asked about her and produced the pictures again. By the time he made it into Hoyt's office, Matt realized that he hadn't called CJ, so he hit her on speed dial. "Hey babe, just wanted to make sure you survived the nuclear waste." This statement caught Hoyt's attention and he started laughing. "Well, good. Hey, I forgot something earlier. Can you dig up Capt. Fields' financials?"

"Sure thing, Matt. I'll call you back." CJ hung up the phone and started in on the computer.

"Nuclear waste, huh? I remember those days." Hoyt was still laughing. "Boy am I glad those are over."

Matt plopped down on Hoyt's couch and told him what he had found out on Fields. "Not nearly as much as I was hoping for, but maybe CJ can get something."

"I called a friend of mine at the fire marshal's office and swore him to secrecy." Hoyt got up and headed toward the door. "I need coffee, you?"

"Sure." Matt stretched out on the couch and crossed his feet. When Hoyt came back in with the coffee he stopped and looked at the man.

"Comfy? Would you like a pillow or a mint perhaps?" He handed Matt the coffee.

"No, I guess this will do for now."

"Thank heavens – I wouldn't want you to be uncomfortable. Anyway, my friend told me that Fields has done his very best in the last five years to alienate everyone at the office. They all have as little to do with him as possible. He's also sending me copies of every one of the man's investigations."

"He shoots, he scores. Good deal, bud." Matt's phone rang and he sat up to answer it and put it on speaker. "Yeah babe, whatcha got?"

"After jumping through a few hoops with a REALLY big shovel, I found out that our favorite fire marshal has an account in a really nice tropical place. Wanna guess where?" CJ sounded like she was having a good bit of fun.

"You've really missed being at work haven't you?" Hoyt was rolling.

"Actually I have. So do you boys want to guess?"

Hoyt raised his hand in the air. "Ooo, ooo, I wanna guess! The Caymans?"

"Close but no."

Matt spoke up. "The Bahamas."

"Bingo, you win. The only prize I have available is a poopy diaper."

"I'll give my winnings to Hoyt. I've got plenty of those at home and he's feeling nostalgic over the old days." Matt grinned over at Hoyt. "Congrats, bud." The police lieutenant stuck out his tongue. "So how much are we talking about, babe?"

"$250,000. Give or take a few bucks."

Houston let out a whistle. "I wonder how many fires he had to lie about or start to get that much?"

"I don't know, but I do know where part of it came from: one of our missing women – Michelle Cosgrove."

"No wonder she was having trouble paying her ex alimony." Hoyt leaned back in his chair and sipped his coffee thoughtfully. "CJ, a friend of mine is sending me copies of Fields' investigations. I'm going to send copies over there, so that you and Catey Rose won't be bored. How does that sound?"

"Like music to my ears, Michael. Thanks."

Matt stood up. "Alright, babe, I'll see you in a little bit. Love you."

"Love you, too, Matt. 'Bye."

Houston disconnected the call. "I'll just head on back over there and start in on the files when you send them. I don't suppose Cheryl's had enough time to get back to you with anything, has she?"

"Not yet, but I'd say she's highly motivated. She hates the guy – and she's not alone."

"I heard that." Matt headed out the door. "Talk to you later."

"Give Catey Rose a kiss for me."

"Alright I'll do it and I'll send a messenger over with your prize." Matt grinned at his friend as he walked out.


	9. Chapter 9

**CHAPTER 9**

When Matt left the police precinct he decided that he was hungry and stopped at Fu Chow's Chinese Restaurant for some takeout. As he exited the elevator back at the office he ran into Murray Chase who was just leaving. "How's it going, Murray?"

"Great Houston. Thanks again for all the help." He gave Matt a shy smile and boarded the elevator.

"CJ, I stopped and got us some lunch on the way back." He held up the bags.

"Good! I'm starved." They headed toward the poker table and began pulling out the boxes of rice, pepper steak, and egg rolls.

"Is Catey asleep?" Matt pulled out the chop sticks and handed a set to his wife.

"Yep, after I got done changing her she had a bottle while I was working on the financials and she drifted right off. Apparently being a baby is hard work."

"Well think about it: she's not just a baby, she's a working baby. This can be a tough job – especially when you're just starting out." He walked to the door of the office. "Chris, we've got Fu Chow's in here if you want some."

"Okay, thanks. Murray had to go to a meeting so I'm alone for lunch today." She came in and sat down with the couple. "Boss, I've got a question. Who's going to babysit Catey Rose while the wedding is going on?"

Matt stopped with pepper steak halfway to his mouth and looked at CJ. Both of them would be in the wedding: Matt as best man and CJ as matron of honor. "That's a good question, Chris. I haven't thought about that."

"Me either. Well, it can't be Chris, me, or you - or Murray for that matter." CJ took a bite of egg roll.

"Madre Rosa is gonna be busier than a three legged cat covering up…well, you get the idea. Hmmm, I don't know." Matt pondered the question. "I don't think I'll be leaving her in LA with Bo and Lamar. They're liable to get into another strip poker game with a group of girl bikers." CJ snickered as she thought back to the SOS call that the two cowboys had made to Matt a while back when they were stranded at a bar without any clothes after losing to the girls. "Maybe Madre Rosa will have an idea. I'll talk to her later and see if she has any suggestions."

"So are you nervous?" CJ looked over at her friend. "You know I had to ask that because you kept asking me the night before our wedding."

"Now I realize how rude I was." Chris laughed. "I'm nervous about something going wrong with the arrangements, but not about Murray. I think I know what you meant." She smiled over at CJ.

"Yeah, everybody kept asking me that, too." Matt took a bite of eggroll and shook his head. "They all seemed really disappointed when I said no. Of course after we got shot at in the hotel room a few days before the wedding I didn't figure marriage would be so bad." All three of them laughed as Matt's phone began to ring.

"Houston."

"Hi hon, it's Sheila. I thought I would let you know that Mr. Reuben just got transferred to a private room. He should be able to have visitors in a couple of hours."

"Thanks for letting me know, I sure do appreciate it."

"No problem. I've got to go – my ride is here to pick me up."

"Okay, thanks again, darlin'." Matt hung up and passed the message on to CJ. "I'll go over there about 3:00 and see if he's feeling up to talking a little bit." He sat back down and dug into the lunch. "CJ, you said Michelle Cosgrove had paid Fields, but you didn't say how much."

"$60,000." She looked across at her husband.

"Ouch, yeah that would put a dent in the alimony payments. Ya know Hoyt hasn't found hide nor hair of her yet. He put out an APB on her and her car." They ate in silence for a minute and Matt pulled a fortune cookie out of the bag and broke it open, putting the cookie in his mouth while unfolding the fortune. He began violently coughing.

"You okay there?" CJ stepped around the table and patted him on the back. Looking down, she saw the fortune and read it out loud. "A new addition is in your future." She looked at Matt wide-eyed for a minute. "Uh oh, you remember what happened last time you got one of those."

Matt still couldn't speak and was taking a long swig of his Fizzy Pop as he nodded. He finally settled down and then grinned up at CJ. "Why do the words "baseball team" suddenly come to mind?" She swatted him and went back to her seat. "I think I better get back to work. Wonder if Hoyt sent those files yet?" He got up and left the table, smiling.

"Why do I get the feeling he wouldn't be upset about another little one at all?" Chris was watching Matt as he stepped over the back of the couch and pulled up BABY.

"Of course he wouldn't; but he's not the one that would have to be pregnant and give birth again so soon, either." She shook her head. "But I do have to admit that he was great when it came to delivering Catey Rose." CJ looked across the room at her husband and lowered her voice. "You know he was really nervous at first, but he just calmed right down and took control of the whole thing when Catey was born. I guess when you can choose between confronting a tornado outside or delivering a baby…well, it's a pretty clear choice." They both laughed.

"Bingo, Hoyt sent the files." Matt got started on that job as CJ and Chris finished up lunch. "This is kind of interesting here. I heard about this on the news. There was a house fire and a woman was killed. There was some argument between Fields and the ME as to the cause of the blunt force trauma to her head. He said it was due to a beam falling on her but the ME didn't think so – said it was something smaller." Matt pulled out his notebook and jotted down the case number and a few facts pertaining to it then went on to the next case.

"How many have we got there?" CJ was kneeling down behind Matt and started rubbing his shoulders.

"Seventy three." He continued to read.

"Okay I'll take the odd numbered ones, will that work?" She leaned forward and kissed the back of his neck.

"Oh I'm sure it will but if you keep on with what you're doing neither one of us will be getting much work done." He tilted his head back and kissed her.

She playfully smacked his shoulder. "You just want the fortune cookie to be right."

"Yup, I do." He grinned and started back in on the files.

Two hours later, Matt looked at his watch and decided to go pay a visit to Charles Reuben. He stuck his head inside CJ's office. "I'm gonna go see Reuben. Be back in a while." Walking over to his wife, Matt leaned down and kissed her. "Love you, Babe."

"Love you, too." She watched as he headed for the elevator, and then turned her attention back to the files that Hoyt had sent over. "Now this is definitely interesting." Continuing to read further, CJ pulled a legal pad out of the drawer and began taking notes. It was one of the first investigations that Fields had conducted after moving to Los Angeles, and involved a fire at a funeral home. CJ remembered hearing about it on the news and had thought at the time that it sounded a little suspicious. The bodies of three people were inside the funeral home when the fire occurred and had been destroyed before the funerals were even held. One of them, Oliver Harkins, had died in an automobile accident and there was some talk that it might not have been accidental. The ME had decided to reopen the case but the body was destroyed before it was removed to the ME's office. "I'm definitely talking to Matt about this one."

Meanwhile, Matt had arrived at the hospital to see Charles Reuben. As he entered the man's hospital room he saw that he was looking much better than he had when he was carried away by the ambulance. "Mr. Houston, I'm glad to see you. Have you found out anything yet?"

"Well, we think we might be on to something, but are still looking for some proof. But I do have a few questions for you if you feel up to talking."

"Of course, have a seat." Reuben sat up a little straighter in the bed.

"What can you tell me about your partner, Mr. Reuben? I know you said she was in Oregon on family business, but we've checked with her family there and she was supposed to have already come back to LA. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to find her anywhere."

"That's strange. She told me she would be gone a week or more."

"Do you know the reason for her visit?" Matt was becoming increasingly more suspicious of Cosgrove.

"Michelle said her father had gotten into some kind of scrape with the law. She was rather embarrassed about the whole thing."

Matt thought about it for a minute. "Mr. Reuben, Lt. Hoyt spoke with the police chief up in Warrenton where her folks live. He said they were good folks, never in any trouble – not even a speeding ticket."

Reuben looked shocked. "I don't understand."

"I've talked to Mrs. Cosgrove's ex-husband and he said that she had come to him recently – she wanted to get the divorce decree modified to reduce her alimony payments."

"I really wouldn't know about that. She's a very private person."

Matt's phone rang and he looked at the caller ID: it was Hoyt. "Excuse me for a minute, please." He answered and Hoyt told him that Cheryl had confirmed that it was indeed Theresa Olividad's body that had been found in the wedding chapel. Matt relayed what Reuben had just told him. "Can you talk to the chief up there again and just make sure?"

"I'll do it and call you back." Hoyt hung up and found the number for the chief of police in Warrenton, Oregon once again.

Matt put his phone back in his pocket. "Mr. Reuben, I don't want to upset you, but Theresa Olividad was the one found in the chapel."

"Oh no! She's got two small children! This is just terrible!" Matt could hear the beep of the heart monitor speed up.

"Just calm down, okay?" Matt poured him a drink of water from the pitcher on the bedside table.

After taking a sip and a few deep breaths, the man calmed down a little.

"Okay, I'm going to leave now and let you get some rest." Matt stepped on out of Reuben's room and walked over to the nurses' station and spoke with the lady seated there, telling her that Mr. Reuben had just received some bad news and that they might want to check on him. The nurse thanked him and he headed to the elevator and was waiting on it when his phone rang again.

"Yeah Michael, what did you find out?"

"She lied to Reuben. The chief said her dad's never been in any trouble."

"Uh huh, that's what I thought. We really need to find her. I've got a feeling that if we lean on Fields all we're going to get is a headache, but we might be able to get something out of her."

Hoyt leaned back in his chair. "I'm with you on that. There haven't been any sightings of her. I checked with the Border Patrol again and they still haven't had any contact with her."

"Okay, I'm going to come by there so we can hash this thing out. See you in a few minutes." He stepped off of the elevator and hung up the phone, putting it in his pocket as he crossed the lobby and headed for his truck. As he drove to the police station, Matt was mulling over the case. Michelle Cosgrove's motivation seemed to be financial and the only way she would be able to make any money from the burned down chapel would be from insurance. When he got to Hoyt's office he brought up the subject.

"That's what I've just been checking on – it was insured for $400,000. Since Cosgrove and Reuben were equal partners, they would each get an equal share."

"And she already paid Fields $60,000 so that would leave her with $140,000." Matt leaned back on the couch and tapped on his left boot which was resting on his right knee. "If she's going to get the money from the insurance she's going to have to surface." Neither man said anything. Then Matt started smiling.

"What?" Hoyt knew that the private investigator had just hit on something.

"That's how we can pull her out of the woodwork. Make her think the insurance company is trying to contact her to sign some papers for the payoff." He grinned at the cop.

"Uh huh. But if we haven't been able to contact her…"

"Voicemail, my friend." Matt's smile got even bigger. "My voice is already on her voicemail so I can't do it."

"So is mine." Hoyt looked at Matt.

"But CJ's isn't – and she could be very convincing as an insurance adjuster." He pulled out his phone and called the office. "Hey Chris, I need to talk to CJ." There was a pause. "Hey Babe, Hoyt and I have a job for you. No, you don't even have to leave the office. We need you to call Michelle Cosgrove's cell phone and leave her a voice mail. You work for the insurance company and you need to get her signature so that you can give her the payoff for the wedding chapel." He smiled at Hoyt. "Uh huh. Use your cell phone. Okay. Love you. 'Bye." He ended the call. "She's working on her speech."

Hoyt leaned back and grinned. "This is one of those times when it pays to have a devious mind I guess."


	10. Chapter 10

**CHAPTER 10**

Matt and Hoyt talked on for a little while and CJ called her husband back to let him know that she had left the message for Michelle Cosgrove. "Thanks a lot, Babe. 'Bye." He grinned over at Hoyt once again. "Mission accomplished. Now all we have to do is wait for her to take the bait." As he thought it over, he called CJ back. "Hey, did you by any chance tell Cosgrove where you would meet her?" Matt could hear Catey Rose fussing in the background.

"No, I thought that it would be better if it was set up when we talk." CJ picked up her daughter and took her down to the nursery to change her diaper.

"What's my girl fussing about?"

"As you like to put it, "wet drawers"." CJ had already begun the diaper change and the baby calmed down.

"Ah hah. Well I'll be back in just a little bit. Love you. 'Bye." He disconnected the call and stood up stretching. Hoyt was grinning at him. "What?"

"Nothing, just thinking about how much you've changed since we met." The police detective laughed.

"Most folks think I've changed for the better." Matt started out of the office and stuck his head back in the door. "I know it's for the better." He grinned and walked on toward the elevator.

Back at the office, Houston stepped over the back of the couch and pulled BABY back up and started back to work on the fire investigation files that Hoyt had sent over earlier. CJ and Catey Rose came and sat down next to him. "Hello, ladies." Matt leaned over and gave Catey a kiss on the forehead as she drank her bottle, then gave CJ a peck on the cheek. "I take it you haven't heard back from Cosgrove yet?"

"Not yet." They were both reading through the file that Matt had pulled up. "I ran across another interesting file earlier and have been doing some more research on it. Do you remember the fire at a funeral home where three bodies were destroyed, one of them was involved in a car accident and the ME reopened the case?"

"Yeah, I do." He stopped what he was doing.

"Fields said that the cause of the fire was electrical but the captain of the station that was the first to arrive on the scene, Withers, claimed that he and his firefighters could smell gasoline when they first got there." She put Catey up on her shoulder for a burp.

"Uh huh. More fuel for the fire, pardon the pun. Good work. We'll filter through the rest of these and see what else turns up." Just then CJ's cell phone began to ring and she handed the baby to Matt and went into her office to answer it. Matt continued to burp the baby as CJ walked back into the room.

"Yes, Mrs. Cosgrove. Uh huh, I just need to meet with you and get you to sign the claim release papers. Oh and you'll need your driver's license. Where would you like to meet?" She winked at Matt. "Right, I know exactly where that is. Tomorrow morning at 9:30 would work great for me. Alright, see you then." She hung up. "9:30 tomorrow at the Comet Coffee shop on Wilshire."

Matt nodded and smiled as Catey let loose with a big burp. "She approves, too." He picked up the phone and dialed Hoyt. "Hey, 9:30 tomorrow morning at Comet Coffee." Catey let out with another big burp. "No I didn't, that was Catey. Yes I'm sure." He rolled his eyes. "Because if it was me you would be deaf. Talk to you later." He hung up the phone.

"Hon, you might want to go change your shirt." CJ came and took her daughter as Matt looked over at his shoulder.

"Thanks, kiddo, I appreciate that." He shook his head at Catey, who just cooed innocently. Going down into the gym to change his shirt, Matt started laughing.

"What's so funny?" CJ and Catey were at the top of the stairs.

"I've been slimed!" Matt started in on another round of laughter.

"At least he's a good sport, Catey." She took her daughter back into her office and the two of them went back to working on the files.

After changing into a t-shirt, Matt came back through and made his way to the bar for a cup of coffee and went back to BABY to work on the files. After going through three more, he ran across another suspicious case in which a sign shop had been destroyed. Once again, Fields called it accidental and the captain in charge of the station that had responded disagreed. Matt got up and went to the door of CJ's office. "Hey Babe, what was the name of the fire captain in the funeral home case?"

"Uh, hang on." She flipped back through her notes. "Withers, Frank Withers. Why?"

"I think we need to talk to him. I just ran across another case where he and Fields locked horns." He looked down in CJ's lap where their daughter had dozed off. "Want me to put her down for you?"

"Sure." Matt walked in and very carefully picked up his daughter and started down the stairs with her. Hoyt stepped off of the elevator and came into CJ's office. About the time Matt got to the bottom of the stairs, Catey woke up and started fussing.

"Uh oh, the native is restless." Hoyt grinned.

CJ pointed to the baby monitor on her desk. "Listen." Matt had started singing to the baby and she began cooing then got quiet, and he came back up the stairs a minute later.

"Awwwww, that's sweet." Hoyt loved to tease Matt every chance he got and the private investigator stuck out his tongue at him. "You've actually got a good voice, Houston. I'm impressed."

"As long as Catey is impressed I'm okay." He grinned as he sat down on the loveseat in CJ's office. "Tell him about the funeral home deal."

CJ told the lieutenant what she had told her husband earlier and Matt told him about the sign shop. "I want to talk to this Withers guy. He might be able to help us out."

"He might at that. I've got a cousin that works for the fire department as a dispatcher." He pulled out his phone and dialed. "Lisa, it's Michael. Can I get you to give me a phone number for a Frank Withers, fire captain? Yeah." There was a pause. "Uh huh." He wrote the number down on a piece of paper that CJ gave him. "Alright thanks a lot. Yeah, it's got to do with a case. Okay, tell Pat hello for me. 'Bye." He hung up and looked at his watch. "Want to talk to him tomorrow?"

"Yeah, that's…wait a minute; we're going to be dealing with Michelle Cosgrove in the morning. Maybe we better try to talk to him tonight." Matt looked at CJ.

"True. Okay, I'll try to get him. It's his cell phone number." Hoyt dialed and got the captain and explained what was going on. "Right, yeah, I know where it is. Okay, see you then. Goodbye." He hung up and turned to Matt. "He's on duty at Station 16 and said for us to swing on by there. Seems eager to talk about it, too."

"Alright." Matt stood up and walked over to CJ. "I guess you ladies will be heading home before too much longer, won't you?"

"Yeah, I think I'll head that way. I can look over these at the house." She pulled Matt into a kiss.

Hoyt waited…and waited…and cleared his throat. Matt gave him a rude gesture. "Nope, I don't fly like that, PI."

Matt broke the kiss and looked at CJ smiling. "I'll call you when I head that way. Love you, Babe." He gave her one more short kiss and then started out with Hoyt following. "Wanna go in the "Dream Truck"?"

"Oh sure, why not? I was on my way home when I stopped here so why not."

"You boys be careful. Love you." CJ shook her head and laughed at the pair, then sat back down to finish the case file that she was working on before heading home.


	11. Chapter 11

**CHAPTER 11**

Matt pulled into the parking lot at Fire Station 16 and he and Michael got out and headed into the office where they met Captain Frank Withers, who was about 5'8" tall, of a lean build, and sporting a salt and pepper crew cut. After introducing themselves and shaking hands, the three men got cups of coffee and went outside to talk.

"It's not that I don't trust these boys here, I'm trying to keep them from having any problems with Fields. He tried to start some for me after I disagreed with him a couple of times." Withers leaned against the hood of Matt's truck. "This yours?" He tapped on the hood as he looked at Matt.

"Yes, sir." Matt grinned.

"Man, this thing is sweet! Whatcha got under the hood?" Withers started walking around the truck and Matt reached in and popped the hood so he could take a look. After talking trucks for a while, Matt remembered what they were there for and sheepishly looked at Hoyt.

"Sorry bud." He grinned.

"Oops, sorry Lieutenant kinda got carried away. This is one sweet machine you got here."

"Thanks." Matt closed the hood and turned back to Withers. "So you said he tried to cause you some problems?"

"Yeah, the little weasel. He filed a complaint with the department accusing me of insubordination." Withers grinned. "But since we're the same rank, that didn't fly."

"So his complaint had to do with the funeral home fire and the sign shop?" Hoyt drank the last of his coffee and leaned against the truck.

"Yeah, and one other. It was a fire that happened at an old hotel. The thing had been shut down under the nuisance laws because of all the hookers and drug deals going on there. It was just like the other two scenes, he claimed it was electrical but we smelled gasoline when we first got there."

"Captain, don't take this the wrong way, but did you tell anyone about it?" Matt was leaning against the fender on the driver's side.

"Yeah I did, and that's when he started filing complaints against me." Withers drank down the last of his coffee. "I figured that one day it would catch up with him. Looks like that day may be getting close, huh?"

"We're hoping so. We've got some evidence that indicates that he's been taking some bribes." Hoyt took off his tie and unbuttoned his shirt collar.

"Good. If you need me to testify in court I'll be more than happy to do it. Just let me know when and where. And some of the guys here were around then and know about it as well." Withers shook hands with the pair. "If you decide you want to get rid of that truck, let me know."

Matt shook his head. "No, I plan on keeping this one for a long time, Cap. Thanks for your help." He got in the truck and started the engine as Hoyt climbed in and put on his seat belt. "Sounds like a pretty good witness to have at a trial."

"Yeah, he does. Now if we can just get what we need out of Michelle Cosgrove tomorrow, we might be able to tighten the noose on him." Hoyt looked around the truck. "You know, I've never really been too thrilled with pickups, but this thing is nice."

"Wanna drive it?" Matt looked over at his friend.

"Sure." Hoyt grinned and got out of the seat belt and he and Matt swapped places. "Oh boy, I've never driven a truck before."

"Just remember: it's a little bit longer than your car." Matt put on his seat belt and braced his hands on the dash.

"Funny, PI." He put it in gear and pulled out onto the road. "SWEET!"

When Matt got home he walked into the kitchen and was overcome by the smell of pancakes. "Oh man, that smells good." He walked over to CJ who was feeding Catey Rose another bottle. "This little stinker is getting to be a regular chow hound isn't she?"

"She sure has been keeping me busy." CJ leaned her head back and Matt gave her a kiss. "Your plate is in the microwave."

"Guess who's fallen in love with the "Dream Truck"?" Matt walked over and pushed the one minute button on the microwave and leaned against the kitchen counter.

"Not Michael?" She was obviously surprised.

Matt nodded and smiled. "I believe he's hooked. He drove it back from the fire station." He pulled out the plate and picked up the bottle of maple syrup and gave the pancakes a good topping. "He was yelling "SWEEEEEEET!" before he even got a block down the road."

"Oh Lord, this could be bad, Matt." She started laughing.

"Yeah, and Capt. Withers was about to have a fit over it, too. Told me to let him know if I wanted to get rid of it."

"I don't think that's going to happen for a while." She smiled, remembering how upset Matt had been when the original truck had been the target of a bomb.

"That's what I told him. Babe, these are really good." He had almost finished the stack of pancakes. "Mmmm, forgot the milk." He got up and went to the cabinet for a glass and pulled the jug out of the refrigerator. "You know, I've gained some weight in the last few months, CJ, and it's all your fault."

"According to Mama Novelli you needed to gain some weight – and I think she was right. You look a lot better."

Matt wiggled his eyebrows at her. "Do I now?" He walked back over to her and leaned down, giving her another kiss.

"Uh huh. I'll show you just how good after your daughter goes to sleep." CJ reached up and pulled him back down for another kiss.


	12. Chapter 12

**CHAPTER 12**

"Okay Chris, I guess that's it." CJ looked at the secretary and at her daughter.

Matt came down the steps and headed for the elevator. "Catey Rose, you keep Chris out of trouble for me, okay?" The baby grunted, causing the secretary to laugh.

"We'll have a good time, don't worry." She picked up Catey's right hand and waved with it.

CJ started toward the elevator and then turned back. "Did you forget something, Babe?" Matt was holding the elevator for her.

"Uh, well…I don't guess so." She headed for the elevator and then turned to look at her daughter again.

Matt grabbed her by the shoulders and marched her into the elevator. "She'll be fine, CJ. Chris will take good care of her, you know that." He pushed the button for the parking garage and the elevator began its descent. Looking over at CJ he noticed she seemed upset. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." She stared at the readout as the numbers slowly changed.

Matt wrapped his arms around her and turned her face up to his, slowly kissing her. "She's fine, CJ."

"Well I've never left her with anyone before!" She was almost on the verge of tears.

"Hey, you trust Chris. They'll have a good time, don't worry so much." He pulled her into a hug and kissed the top of her head. "Besides, she'll have a babysitter when we're at the wedding, now won't she?"

"That's true." She laid her head over on his chest and the doors opened. "Guess I'm just a little protective."

"Well relax a little; Chris will take good care of her." Matt opened the door of his truck and helped her in then walked around and slid behind the wheel. "Are you ready to spring the trap on Michelle Cosgrove?"

"Yep. Let's do it." She smiled over at her husband.

Fifteen minutes later they walked into the coffee shop and CJ sat at a table while Matt sat down at the counter next to Hoyt.

"Everything okay? CJ looks a little upset." He looked over at Matt's wife.

"Yep, she's just a little worried about Catey – it's the first time we've left her with anyone." He grinned.

"Oh yeah, that can be tough. Is Chris watching her?"

"Uh huh. She'll be fine." Matt ordered a cup of coffee and a bear claw and started in on it. "I told CJ last night that I've gained a few pounds in the last few months – and it's her fault." He grinned at Hoyt.

"No, not her fault completely – you've been eating a lot of donuts lately." He ordered a bear claw as well. "Maybe we should both go on a diet."

"Nah, she likes the way I look." Matt chuckled. "Here she comes." He saw Michelle Cosgrove get out of her car in the parking lot and make her way into the shop. After looking around for a minute she spied CJ, whose briefcase was on the table, and headed in that direction.

"Ms. Parsons?"

"Yes, have a seat." CJ took a sip of coffee and opened the briefcase as Matt and Hoyt approached the table.

"Mrs. Cosgrove I need you to come with me, please." Hoyt took her by the elbow after flashing his badge at the woman who then began spouting a few words that Matt hadn't heard since he was in the Army. She attempted to pull out of his grasp and make a run for the door but Matt grabbed her by the upper arms and Hoyt put the cuffs on her.

"You…" She looked at CJ and was about to cut loose on her.

"No, no Mrs. Cosgrove - language please." Matt grinned as she tried to struggle out of his grasp. He and Hoyt walked her to the police car and put her in the back. "Meet you there." Matt met CJ on her way out and they got into his truck and followed Hoyt back to his office.

CJ watched from the observation room as Matt and Hoyt began questioning the half-owner of the wedding chapel. "Mrs. Cosgrove, we know that you paid Eugene Fields $60,000. We also know that you stand to collect $200,000 from the insurance on the wedding chapel. That would put you $140,000 to the good." Matt leaned back in the chair.

Cosgrove didn't say anything for a minute. "So what if I did give him the money? There's nothing wrong with giving someone a gift."

"Well that's true, but a bribe sure isn't a gift." Hoyt was pacing around the room and stopped right behind her. "Actually, bribe might not be the right word either. What do you think, Houston?"

"No, I think payday might be a little more accurate in this situation. After all he did do a job for her, so it would be more like paying him than bribing or gift giving, you know?"

"True. Regardless of what it's called, it all results in the same thing – and because there was a death involved with the act, that would tack on at least twenty five years to the sentence. Of course you could also get life in prison or the death penalty." Hoyt was leaning over her right shoulder as he finished talking.

"Nobody was supposed to be in the building. I told him that." She closed her eyes and the tears began to flow.

But somebody was. And you know, I think I've figured out what happened. I think Theresa Olividad had already left when Charles Reuben locked the place up – but she went off and left her cell phone and decided to go back and get it. When she did, she ran into Eugene Fields while he was taking care of spreading the accelerant. He probably whacked her over the head or something, knocking her out, and then started the fire and got the hell out of Dodge before it was called in by the alarm company. Then he shows up when they call for the fire marshal and wah lah," Matt did a drum roll on the table, "it's a done deal."

"I don't know anything about Theresa. He was supposed to make sure no one was there." She was beginning to bawl in earnest now.

"Of course if you were to help us convict Fields – I'm sure a deal could be worked out with the prosecutor, isn't that right Hoyt?"

"Oh yeah, happens all the time. So what do you think, Mrs. Cosgrove, do you want a deal?"

Michelle Cosgrove nodded her head.

"Alright then, you sit here and think about what you're going to tell the prosecutor and I'll go get the ball rolling." Hoyt and Matt walked out into the hallway and CJ stepped out of the observation room.

"You guys are pretty good together. But there really wasn't a good cop/bad cop routine." She smiled at the two men.

"Well since only one of us is a cop, I had to cover both parts." Hoyt was smiling as he walked up the hall toward his office.

"I'm going to take CJ back to the office and then I'll be right back, Michael. I think she's missing somebody." Matt put his arm around CJ's shoulder and kissed her cheek.

"Okay, I'll go call the DA and get somebody down here. See you in a little bit. And thanks a lot CJ; we couldn't have done it without your help."

"You're welcome, Michael." She and Matt headed toward the elevator. As they rode down to the lobby, CJ looked over at her husband. "I guess you think I'm silly."

"Nope. I remember how I felt my first week back – but I had it worse than you."

"Oh, how so?"

"I was missing both of my ladies." He leaned down and kissed her as the elevator doors opened and all the cops in the lobby started applauding.


	13. Chapter 13

**CHAPTER 13**

After reaching a deal with the DA, Michelle Cosgrove spilled the beans on Eugene Fields. A warrant was drawn up for his arrest and Matt went with Hoyt and two patrolmen to serve it. Fields was carted off from his home, yelling and screaming at the top of his lungs.

A week later, Matt had a visitor at the office: Captain Rich Holt. "How you doing, Cap? Good to see you." Matt welcomed him in and poured coffee for both of them and then they headed out onto the patio.

"I just wanted to thank you, Houston." Holt looked at the helicopter sitting there. "This is yours too, I take it?"

"Yes sir - sure is." Matt was grinning.

"You sure like you're toys."

"Why did you want to thank me?" Matt sat down in one of the chairs and propped his feet up on the wall that overlooked the Los Angeles skyline.

"For giving me the push to apply for the fire marshal's job." Holt looked over at him and grinned.

"I don't recall pushing you, but congratulations anyway." Matt toasted him with the mug of coffee.

"Well I got the job. And I went and talked to Lt. Hoyt. He told me how you help out the police department from time to time. What would you think about helping out the fire marshal's office as well?"

Matt had a surprised look on his face. "Well Cap, I'm flattered but I don't really know anything about fires – other than they are a real pain in a hay barn and they're good for toasting marshmallows." He grinned.

"You might not know about fires but you sure know people. What do you say? If I can get approval from the head man, that is."

"I'll do my best." They shook hands and about that time Matt heard Catey Rose starting to cry. He had started to get up when CJ appeared at the door carrying their daughter.

"I think somebody wants her Daddy." She handed the baby to Matt and she immediately quit crying and started cooing.

"Little lady, I think you might be spoiled. Actually, I know you're spoiled." He held her in his left arm and began tickling her chin with his right hand.

"That's a beautiful girl you've got there." Holt leaned over to get a better look at Catey.

"Thanks, she's almost as pretty as her Mama." Matt looked up at his wife. "CJ, this is Capt. Rich Holt with the LA Fire Department, soon to be one of the fire marshals." The two shook hands. "He's been talking to Hoyt and would like it if we helped him out from time to time."

"Great. But you don't really know much about fires, Matt."

"Like I was telling him a minute ago, Mrs. Houston: he might not know fires but he knows people. And that's half the battle."

Catey Rose was still getting her chin tickled and suddenly started laughing. Matt looked up at CJ, grinning. "The little booger figured out how to laugh!"

"Like father like daughter I guess." She walked over and kissed Matt on the cheek as Catey Rose grunted and then filled up her diaper. Her mother made a face and the baby started laughing again. "Yep, she's just like her father." CJ picked her daughter up and headed back into the office as Matt and Capt. Holt were both cracking up.


End file.
